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Kootenai County declares disaster emergency after June 29 active shooter and wildfire at Canfield Mountain
Summary
The Kootenai County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Resolution 2025-52, a local disaster emergency declaration tied to a deadly shooting and the Nettleton Gulch/Canfield Mountain wildfire on June 29, 2025, enabling limited financial relief for response costs.
Kootenai County declared a local disaster emergency for a June 29, 2025, active-shooter incident and an accompanying wildfire on Canfield Mountain, the Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously at a July 1 meeting.
The action — Resolution 2025-52, approved by Commissioners Eberline, Duncan and Chair Metari — was requested by county emergency management after the events began on June 29 and first responders faced rapidly escalating personnel and resource demands. Tiffany Westbrook, Kootenai County emergency management director, told the board the declaration was requested “out of an abundance of caution” while the situation was still evolving and the suspected shooter remained at large.
The declaration does not change the facts of the incident but creates a narrow administrative pathway for recovery of extraordinary costs incurred by responding agencies, Westbrook said. As of July 1, the active-shooter threat had been neutralized and the Nettleton Gulch fire had burned approximately 38 acres. Westbrook said the fire is being managed by a Type 3 incident management team under the Idaho Department of Lands and that, at the time of the update, no structures were reported at risk.
Kevin Benton, area field officer for the Idaho Office of Emergency Management, expressed condolences to the affected departments and families and praised local first-responder performance. Commissioners discussed ending the declaration once the fire is fully contained; the board noted the declaration can be rescinded when conditions allow.
The board approved the emergency-addition item to the meeting agenda and then voted to adopt Resolution 2025-52. Recorded votes on the motion show Commissioners Eberline, Duncan and Chair Metari voting "aye." The resolution’s approval authorizes county staff to pursue the limited relief options tied to the local disaster declaration.
The declaration and its administrative consequences do not alter any pending criminal investigations; Kootenai County officials indicated the measure is focused on resource reimbursement and operational support for the response.
Provenance: The request to add the emergency resolution to the agenda and to adopt it appears in the meeting transcript during the agenda-change discussion and the resolution presentation by Tiffany Westbrook and Kevin Benton, culminating in the motion to adopt and the recorded ayes.
